Patrolman Gaffney succumbed to a gunshot wound he received ten days earlier. Patrolman Gaffney and two other officers responded to the front of 11 Skillman Avenue, Brooklyn, to investigate the sound of gun shots just after midnight on New Years Day. When the officers arrived they found a suspect firing two revolvers into the air. The officers yelled for the suspect to stop, but instead he turned toward the officers and opened fired. Patrolman Gaffney was struck in the right side of his chest, the right arm and the right wrist. A second Patrolman was also wounded in the left arm. The suspect's wife ran out and attempted to stop the shooting, but she too was shot and wounded.

The suspect threw down his weapons and fled on foot. The third officer on the scene chased the suspect and was able to apprehend him a block away.

Patrolman Gaffney was removed to St. Catherine's Hospital where he died from his wounds ten days later.